‘The Legend of Hercules,’ half star

There are two movies featuring the character of Hercules set for release this year. The good thing about that newsy little tidbit: July’s “Hercules” will have to be an improvement over this week’s “The Legend of Hercules.”

That’s not mere optimism. It would be nearly impossible to make a movie more dreary and tedious than this entry in the Greek demigod sweepstakes. Imagine the second feature at a Saturday kiddie matinee with all the fun sucked out, and you’ll get some idea of the level everyone here is working at.

This movie stars charisma-free Kellan Lutz from the “Twilight” movies as Hercules. Most of the other leading actors in the film are (A) British or (B) speaking with convincing British accents, which leaves Lutz sticking out like a frat boy at King Arthur’s court.

Director and co-writer Renny Harlin (“Die Hard 2”) makes Hercules (the son of Zeus, in case you’ve forgotten) a lunk-headed stud with a nebbish brother, Iphicles (Liam Garrigan). Both have the hots for Princess Hebe (Gaia Weiss), but because the movie isn’t “The Legend of Iphicles,” it’s not hard to predict how things will wind up.

Hercules gets sold into slavery and exiled to Egypt, then essentially works as a gladiator to return to Greece. A pal helps him on his journey; “I’ll make you a guest of honor at the wedding!” Hercules exclaims. The dialogue rarely gets better than that.

The film’s action sequences all land with a thud. Harlin constantly uses “Matrix”-style slow-motion effects like a kid playing with a new toy. The CGI is unconvincing, often bordering on the cartoonish, and the 3-D prompts yawns.

The whole thing is a total bore; even the supporting players aren’t motivated enough to attract attention. That’s good news for Lutz; he can’t be blamed for torpedoing the project, because everyone is doing subpar work here.

Reach the reporter at randy.cordova@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8849. Twitter.com/randy_cordova.

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